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Center Stage

Disclaimer: I don’t own Inuyasha. For real.

WARNINGS: …None really, apart from the obvious. This is porn with no redeeming value whatsoever. :D

Author’s note: This story was inspired by delectate’s UlquiHime (Bleach) fic “Limónes De Las Noches,” which can be found over on FF. I HIGHLY recommend it! Anyway, writing this was fun and different. Not sure if it’s an isolated one-shot or the beginning of a new venture. Let me know what you think!!

Center Stage

Kagome flopped over onto her stomach, irritable and restless. After hours of tossing and turning, her sleeping bag had become a balmy inferno, the parachute material clinging to her sweaty skin, cocooning her in the heated grip of her own frustration.

No matter what she’d tried, she just hadn’t been able to relax enough to fall asleep. There was something she needed to do, something she’d been putting off for over a week now, since she hadn’t yet had the opportunity to return home to the comfort and safety of the Modern Era. The final battle with Naraku was drawing near, yet Kagome’s own inner turmoil consumed her, ratcheting up to a fever pitch over the last few days.

She couldn’t stand it any longer. She was a healthy teenage girl—she had needs, for Kami’s sake—and if those needs weren’t met soon, she had a feeling she was going to explode. And not in a pleasant way.

Shifting a bit in agitation, Kagome had to bite back a groan as her aching heat rubbed against something hard half-buried in the grass beneath her sleeping bag. It was probably a rock, or a clump of packed dirt, but whatever it was, that little earthen bulge felt sinfully good as she ground her pelvis against it again.

This time, a soft, tiny moan did escape her lips. Kagome’s eyes flew open as she clapped a hand to her mouth, her heart hammering in her chest. Slowly, fearfully, she eased onto her back, sitting up a little as she peered over the edge of her sleeping bag.

The campfire before her had long since died to embers, her friends still fast asleep around it, thank the merciful gods. Directly across from her, Miroku slept with his back propped up against a tree—and Sango’s head propped against his shoulder. Despite herself, Kagome smiled warmly at the sight, her eyes drifting to Shippou and Kirara, who lay sprawled to her left, four paws to the ceiling as they snored.

On her right, Inuyasha dozed in his usual upright position, his legs crossed beneath him, both chin and sword resting against his chest. Every now and then, his silvery dog-ears gave a little twitch, betraying his alertness even in sleep. The simplest solution to Kagome’s problem, of course, would be to take care of it right here and now in her sleeping bag, but she couldn’t trust herself to remain quiet enough to escape his notice. If Inuyasha were to catch her ‘in the act’, she’d never hear the end of it.

Plus, there were other, newer variables to consider. Her gaze moved a fair distance away, past where Rin and Jakken were slumbering together against the warm belly of Sesshoumaru’s gigantic dragon pet Ah-Un, all the way over to the daiyoukai himself. As usual, he was wide awake, standing with his back to her at the outskirts of the woods, gazing out over the edge of a cliff. Sesshoumaru never seemed to require sleep, and staring broodingly out into the distance seemed to be one of his favorite pastimes—apart from picking fights with Inuyasha and harassing her on a daily basis.

Kagome scowled.

Ever since they’d joined forces with Sesshoumaru’s group some weeks back, he’d been singling her out for torment. At first, she’d thought it was her own paranoia, but gradually she’d come to the conclusion that he definitely had something against her. He was always harping on her about one thing or the other and seemed particularly fond of ordering her around.

“Miko, stop dawdling.”

“Miko, you are making too much noise.”

“Miko, close your mouth when you have finished speaking. A hanging jaw does not become you.”

Miko this, miko that—and every bit of it delivered with a cocked brow or a subtle, infuriating smirk. Worst of all, she found herself actually giving in to his demands, regardless of however reluctant she had been to submit to him in hindsight. He had an air of command about him that simply refused to be denied.

Shooting a sullen glare at the demon lord’s pale, majestic figure, Kagome slipped quietly out of her sleeping bag, her resentment toward him plucking at the taut wire of tension coiled in her gut. Barefoot, she wriggled her toes into her tennis shoes as she picked up her bow and arrows—not nearly so far gone in her feverish state as to forget her first and best means of defense.

She’d made up her mind to venture back into the forest they’d traveled through earlier today. There was a lovely little clearing she’d spotted as they’d passed by, and although she hadn’t been thinking of it along such naughty lines at the time, she now realized it would do perfectly.

As softly as she could, she crept her way through the trees. Her footsteps had most likely woken Inuyasha, but he had learned a long time ago not to follow her in without express permission. There was probably still a small crater in the earth where she’d sat him mercilessly for catching her with her pants around her ankles that one time.

Shaking her head to banish that unfortunate memory, Kagome wandered about a mile into the woods, finding the clearing she remembered with little trouble. Years of traveling the terrain of feudal Japan by foot had done a lot toward improving her sense of direction.

Under the muted glow of the moon, the forest clearing was even more beautiful than she remembered. A blanket of short grass covered the small space, speckled here and there with fragrant patches of white flowers. A little off-center, a smooth grey boulder jutted up from the ground, glittering with speckles of light.

Tossing her bow carelessly aside as she kicked off her shoes, Kagome plopped down onto the bed of soft green undergrowth, stretching out her limbs luxuriantly. The summer air caressed her bare arms and legs like a warm, drawn-out breath, and paradoxically she shivered, gooseflesh rising on her skin as her nipples tightened beneath the ribbed fabric of her tank top.

Lightly, she trailed her fingertips over the exposed flesh of her stomach, her muscles flinching at the feathery touch. Her fingers circled her navel for a moment before slowly traveling upward, tugging her shirt along with them. Pink-tipped and creamy white, her breasts popped suddenly into view. The sight of them peaked and quivering on her chest, illuminated by the moonlight, sent a jolt of arousal coursing straight to her groin.

Kagome arched as she brushed one rosy point with the pad of her finger, sucking her lower lip between her teeth to stifle her moan. She’d never felt so sensitive before. But of course, she’d never felt so wanton, either—pleasuring herself out here in the open like some sort of wild deviant.

The thought of her own brazenness sent another shock of heat streaking toward the apex of her thighs. She wriggled her bottom a bit against the loamy earth, groaning low in her throat as the crotch of her shorts and panties stretched tight over her mound, already damp with her arousal.

Cupping her breasts in her hands, Kagome slowly rocked her hips as she bowed her back, leaning her heat into the strained fabric of her clothing. Her thumbs swirled over her nipples, the thick central seam of her sleep shorts digging deliciously into her cleft, teasing a little at her stiffening clit.

A whimper escaped her lips as she felt the muscles of her abdomen tighten in a wonderful, agonizing clench. But she wanted more than this. Needed more than this.

Deciding to throw caution completely to the wind, Kagome sat up. She wrenched her thin tank-top over her head in one violent motion, her shorts and underwear quickly following suit as she shoved them down over her hips, flinging both away at once with her right foot. Now completely naked, she lay back down against the pliant carpet of the forest meadow, reveling for a moment in the feeling of sheer abandon and the gentle caress of grass blades against the backs of her thighs and the wet, sensitive folds of flesh between.

Her legs lay bent and askew as she smoothed her hand from breast to stomach. Hesitantly, tortuously, her fingers threaded through the downy curls just above her cleft, petting and stroking as she savored her anticipation. Her eyes slid shut as her hand descended at last, her pointer and middle fingers parting in a slight V-shape as they traced over the hot, slick outer lips of her sex.

She racked her brain for some sort of fantasy, some erotic image to play out behind her closed eyes as she brought herself to that sweet, blessed point of release. Her free hand rose to her left breast, circling idly over its hardened peak as she pondered. A few celebrities came to mind. She picked the most attractive one and began creating a scenario in which he demanded she spread herself for him—which she promptly did, her fingers easing apart her swollen folds, a faint tremor going through her as she bared her most intimate area to the open air.

Her phantom lover inspected her with heavy-lidded eyes, the corner of his perfect lips rising in an indulgent half-smile. He asked her if she wanted him to touch her there, to slide his finger into her dripping heat. Kagome blushed as she panted her confirmation, her own finger now trailing over her slit, dipping just barely into the moisture that gathered there like heavy dew, welling up from the very core of her being.

With a ragged breath, she sank her finger in to the hilt, the features of her fantasy partner beginning to sharpen as she moved her slender digit slowly in and out. His high pale cheekbones bled with slashes of red, his hair lightening to a soft silver shade. Before she could fully process it, the proud, handsome face of Sesshoumaru was staring back at her in heated amusement, the ghost of that damnable smirk on his lips.

A growl of frustration tore from Kagome’s throat as she tried to resurrect the image of her hot celebrity crush, but Sesshoumaru’s cursed face kept resurfacing in her mind like a bad habit she just couldn’t shake. The last person in the world she wanted to bring herself off to was that pompous jerk, no matter how annoyingly good-looking he happened to be. But stopping now was not an option, so Kagome decided to just cut her losses and go with the flow of her crazy, lust-addled thoughts.

She resumed her activities with renewed vigor, hoping to get this over with as quickly as possible. A second finger joined the first in pumping her tight wet sheath, the heel of her hand pressing against her clit in time with her thrusts, making her buck sharply into her palm. All the while, in her mind, Sesshoumaru watched her movements, his dark gold eyes taking on a wicked gleam as she moaned loudly into the night.

Kagome could feel the pressure building within her, surely, steadily, as she focused in on that hated look of his, her own eyes cracking open a bit as she raced toward that crescendo of pleasure. Through the thick haze of lust, she saw him still, standing just beyond her open legs, his gaze molten and—surprised?

“Miko,” he said slowly, almost wonderingly, “have you lost your senses?”

Air slammed into Kagome’s lungs as she bolted upright, the fog in her eyes clearing in one horrified instant. No, she hadn’t lost her senses, unfortunately! She could still see him looming above her all-too-well, taking in certain sights of her that no one had ever seen before—including herself. Having only engaged in this activity a handful of times now, Kagome had yet to muster up the courage to level a mirror against that particular place.

“YOU!” she exclaimed in a choked breath, drawing her knees to her chest as she patted the ground for her discarded clothes, to no avail. “What are you doing here?!”

“Tracking you,” Sesshoumaru answered, nonplussed. “Over an hour had passed since you wandered from camp. I suspected you had encountered a youkai in the forest and perhaps been devoured.” His golden eyes flicked down at her flushed, naked form, and Kagome brought her heels together with an audible click, belatedly realizing she had still been giving him an eyeful of her sopping core. “Obviously, this was not the case.”

“Right,” Kagome snapped, blue eyes flashing as her face scalded with humiliation. “Well, like you said, I didn’t get devoured, so there’s no need for you to keep standing there. I’ll meet you back at camp.”

To the young miko’s undying astonishment, Sesshoumaru shook his head—denying her simple request in that one swift, elegant motion. “No. We will return to the encampment together. There would be no end to the half-breed’s whining if something dangerous were to happen upon you while alone in these woods.”

“I have my bow,” Kagome argued, trying her best to glare up at him without revealing too much of her chest.

“Yes,” Sesshoumaru agreed with a faint quirk of his lips. “I’m certain it was at the forefront of your thoughts as you lay there writhing in the grass.” Indignant, Kagome opened her mouth to retort, but the daiyoukai cut her off at the pass. “Nevertheless, armed or not, there are youkai in this area who would be more than eager to press their advantage against a lone human girl, especially upon finding her in such a…compromising position.”

A lightning flash of fang accompanied this last part, and though Kagome hadn’t believed it possible, she somehow managed to turn an even deeper shade of red.

“All right,” she conceded with a sigh, averting her gaze. “I see your point. If you wouldn’t mind turning around for a minute, I’ll get dressed and we can go—”

“No.”

A heartbeat of silence passed as he leveled the full force of his gaze against her.

“We are not leaving yet.”

Kagome went rigid, her breath stilling in her chest. In vain, she looked up at him, trying to read his stony expression and hating how small her voice sounded as it rose to him in question.

“What…what do you mean? Why not?”

Golden eyes held hers patiently, as if she were a dim-witted child. “I interrupted you in the midst of your passion. We will depart as soon as you finish the task.”

Kagome gaped at him in utter shock as all color drained from her face. Finish the…? Oh, Kami, she thought in rising panic, he couldn’t mean that he was going to stand right here and wait on her to orgasm—after all this?

“What—N-no!” she spluttered, clamping her arms even more firmly around her huddled knees. “I mean!—that’s not necessary, Sesshoumaru! I-I’m not even in the mood anymore, okay? So, please, let’s just go and—and pretend this whole thing never happened!”

“Don’t be absurd,” Sesshoumaru scoffed as he turned away, striding a few paces over to the shimmering boulder. “I can smell the latent desire in your blood. It won’t take you long to rekindle it.”

“Sorry, but…why do you care if I, um, ‘rekindle it’ or not? Why can’t we just go?”

Sesshoumaru’s swords fell to the ground with a clatter as he let loose his version of a long-suffering sigh. “Your pent-up lust has been agitating you for days, miko, and those around you as well.” He pulled his bright yellow obi free with a decisive swish, unfastening his armor and allowing it to drop unceremoniously to the grass below. “It has even robbed you of your ability to sleep through the night, which can only lead to exhaustion and further deterioration. You will take care of your needs, so as not to become a liability to the group.” His shadowed gaze slanted toward her, cool and piercing. “I will not tolerate your disobedience on this point.”

Kagome shivered, watching as he lowered himself gracefully to the earth. Reclining against a boulder, he reached one clawed hand toward the ties of his hakama, and her eyes widened as she finally came to terms with the fact that he had been slowly stripping before her very gaze.

“U-um,” she stammered as her mouth went abruptly dry, “what are you doing?”

“The night is warm,” he replied, loosening the ties a bit so he could more easily pull open the folds of his inner and outer haori. This action exposed a broad swathe of his sculpted torso in the process, and Kagome felt her own traitorous stomach muscles clench at the sight. “I am making myself more comfortable. Based on what I saw of your technique, we are likely to be here awhile yet.”

Despite everything, Kagome bristled at the slight. That was so uncalled-for!—not to mention untrue. She’d been an inch away from release before he’d crashed onto the scene.

Kagome stared at him as the reality of the situation finally set in. He really was expecting her to pleasure herself right in front of him!

“Well?” he prompted, arching a brow. “Time, as I understand it, is not a luxury you mortals have to waste. Nor does this Sesshoumaru wish to remain here for longer than required.”

She looked at him in amazement, her jaw falling slack again. There he was, leaning back against that rock like it was some sort of throne, one leg propped up casually, with his chest bared and his expression smug as if he were right at home in his own Western Palace, telling her to ‘carry on with the show’. All he needed to complete the picture was a scepter and a goblet of wine.

“Jaw,” he commented in a bored, absent tone, and Kagome’s teeth clicked shut without delay, a baleful look darkening her features as she berated herself inwardly for her unthinking compliance.

“…I can’t do this,” she muttered, shaking her head. “Not with you watching me like this.”

As panic began to rise once more in her throat, she glanced around frantically, searching for a way out. Just about any means of escape would do. Kagome had always considered herself a cheerful, optimistic sort of person, but right now she’d be more than happy to beg for a quick and painless death.

And where, in Kami’s name, were her clothes?!

“Cease your needless worrying, girl,” Sesshoumaru’s smooth voice said, cutting through her mounting anxiety like a well-sharpened blade. “There is nothing you possess which I have not already seen before.”

Well now. That was reassuring. Kagome grimaced.

“Unfold yourself and lie back.”

Kagome darted a look at him, scarcely believing he intended to boss her around now, of all times. But it soon became painfully clear that he did. As her gaze turned pleading, his remained chilly and resolute, and so, with a defeated sigh, she did as he said and slowly lowered herself back down to the forest floor.

She lay there rigid as a board for a few minutes, gripping the grass at her sides in white-knuckled fingers as her cheeks flamed with renewed embarrassment. Yet, gradually, eventually, that strain began to fade into another. Lying back again in the soft tickling grass, her body bared to the sky and Sesshoumaru no longer in direct sight, she could feel the arousal slowly bleeding back in.

Tentatively, she placed a hand against the smooth, flat plane of her stomach, letting it rest there for a moment before sliding it down, her fingers gently curving over her mound. She moved her fingertips a little, pressing them slightly into her core, a gasp of surprise escaping her when she discovered she was still extremely wet.

Breathing in deeply, she resisted the mad impulse to sneak a glimpse at Sesshoumaru, to attempt to judge his own reaction to her discovery and the rush of sound that had accompanied it. Instead, she bent her fingers to the task, sinking one slim digit into her wet heat with a sigh, while she used her other hand to stroke her clit.

The intense pleasure she’d experienced before was slow to return. Her nerves were jumpy, especially the squishy little bundle she was attempting to rouse with her touch. Before Sesshoumaru had arrived, she’d had ample to time to stoke her longing with teasing caresses over her breasts and the outer fringes of her sex. Now she was attempting to bring herself off 'cold turkey', so to speak, and even if she managed to succeed, the pleasure wasn’t going to be nearly as intense as it could have been before.

...Stupid, meddling demon lords.

A weary sigh disturbed the quiet of the clearing, and it took Kagome a moment to realize that it wasn’t her own. Annoyed, and a little curious, she paused in her ministrations, glancing over at the daiyoukai through the grass.

“…What is it?” she asked somewhat reluctantly.

“It is as I thought. Your approach,” he said, lingering on the last word, “leaves much to be desired.”

Kagome blinked. Did the Lord of the Western Lands just make a joke at her expense?

“Sorry if I’m boring you with my inferior technique, Sesshoumaru-sama,” the young miko grumbled, “but this isn’t exactly an ideal setting. And, anyway, if you know so much, why don’t you tell me exactly what I’m doing wrong, instead of just insulting me for your own twisted amusement?”

Slowly, Kagome complied, her eyes wary as they locked with his. His lips were drawn into a thin line, his face betraying no hint of emotion as his searing gaze bore into her, almost frightening in its intensity. For a moment, Kagome truly feared she’d gone too far in all-but labeling him a sick pervert (though of course, in her mind, he kind of was…).

“So,” he began after a lengthy pause, “your wish is for this Sesshoumaru to instruct you in the art of pleasure?”

“Um…well, I—”

“So be it, miko,” he pronounced with a gracious nod. “I will provide you with the instruction you so desperately seek.” He glanced briefly at her blushing breasts, still peaked and ripe with want. “And need,” he added as an afterthought.

“However, my orders are absolute,” the daiyoukai continued imperiously. “You will follow my every command exactly and without question.” He tilted his chin up at her, looking down on Kagome over the straight bridge of his nose. “Do you understand?”

“…Yes,” Kagome said slowly, her brow nonetheless wrinkled in slight confusion at his pushiness. “I understand.”

“Good. Now, open your legs.”

“What?!”

Sesshoumaru winced faintly at her shrill tone, his eyes sharpening in disapproval.

“Without question, miko,” he growled at her in reminder. When she continued to just stare at him in mild alarm, Sesshoumaru relented with a short sound of irritation. “I need to see between your legs,” he explained tersely, “so that I can determine the best course of action.”

Course of…?—Gods. Kagome grit her teeth, swallowing back her question at the severity of his look. But still…this was her womanhood they were talking about—not a battle plan!

“Miko…”

“Oh, all right!” Kagome cried, burying her heated face in her hands as she cracked open her knees the tiniest bit. She tried to console herself with the knowledge that he’d seen this part of her anatomy before, but it didn’t help much.

“Wider,” he demanded.

The young miko whimpered as she drew her legs apart completely, opening her wet throbbing sex to his full view. For a long time, he said nothing, while Kagome kept her burning face hidden behind her hands. Then, at long last, Sesshoumaru issued his verdict:

“Hn.”

Kagome couldn’t help but peek at him through her fingers. What the heck was that supposed to mean?

Arms crossed loosely over his chest, the daiyoukai continued to study her poor, vulnerable womanhood in perfect seriousness, an almost imperceptible frown marring his otherwise stoic features.

Sesshoumaru glanced up at her face briefly. “You have worked yourself into quite a state, miko. Resolving this matter satisfactorily will require considerable skill.” A slight wrinkle creased his elegant brow. “Indeed. It is fortunate for you that this Sesshoumaru has consented to give you counsel.”

Kami, Kagome thought with a glower, could he possibly be any more full of himself?

“Now, lie back. Keep your knees up and open, as far apart as you can.”

After a moment’s hesitation, Kagome bent her upper half to the grass, biting her lower lip in lingering mortification. She couldn’t believe she was going along with this…

“Lift your hips a fraction—good girl,” he rumbled in approval, the sound of it sending a pleasant shiver down her spine.

And was it just her imagination, or was he breathing a little heavier than before?

“Touch your breasts.”

Uncertainly, Kagome’s hands fluttered to her chest, somewhat relieved to, at least temporarily, have a part of herself shielded from his view. That feeling of relief quickly vanished at his snort of derision.

Blushing like crazy, the young miko slowly ran her palms and fingers over her captive breasts, her movements timid at first, but growing bolder and bolder as she felt her body responding to her touch. Full and round and soft, the pliant mounds yielded beneath her squeezing caress, her nipples pert and pebbled, sending ripples of arousal to her core with every stroke of her hands.

“How do they feel?”

…Was that a rhetorical question?

“G-good,” Kagome rasped all the same, liquid trickling slow and warm down the gap between her lower cheeks. “Really, really good…”

“You’re dripping, miko,” the daiyoukai stated unnecessarily, though Kagome detected a hint of triumph in his tone.

Craning her neck, Kagome stole a glimpse at him through her parted legs. His long silver lashes were lowered a bit as he trained his simmering gaze upon her wetness, a low, deep thrum of pleasure hitting her unexpectedly as she watched him watch her with such heated scrutiny. Sure enough, a faint gloating smile played at his elegant lips, but Kagome was too aroused right now to be properly angry about it, her head lolling back to the grass with a huff of resignation.

“Take your right hand off your breast and place it between your legs.”

Kagome stiffened as her fingers relinquished their hold on one fleshy mound, sliding slow and heavy across the silky expanse of her stomach to the moist cleft between her legs. She cupped her lower mound gently, trembling already from just that barest of sensations.

“Spread yourself with your first and third fingers.”

The young miko sucked in a sharp breath, desire coiling tight within her as she recalled her earlier fantasy, and the stark similarities between it and Sesshoumaru’s current command. Gingerly, her ring and index fingers drew apart her outer folds, her middle finger now resting between, grazing her slick inner lips. A soft whimper issued from her throat.

She’d never been more turned-on in her life.

“Trail your second finger up and down,” he said to her, “and keep touching your left breast.”

Rolling her nipple between the fingers of her free hand, Kagome began a sensual circuit from the bottom edge of her slit to the satiny hood of her clit. Dampness soon coated the tip of her middle finger, sweetening the friction of its movement as it rose and fell, rose and fell. She longed to plunge it into her needy core, but she hadn’t been given permission. Yet.

Still, it felt so good. After a few minutes, Kagome was biting down on her lip to contain her cries, but the Lord of the West would have none of that, apparently.

“Stop chewing your lip, girl,” he snapped. “Let it out.”

“Ahhh!” Kagome cried, finally letting her moans burst forth as her fingertip rubbed just right against the underside of her clit, making her walls flutter within.

“Around,” Sesshoumaru barked abruptly as her back arched off the ground. At her bewildered pause, he tersely elaborated, “Move your finger around.”

Catching his meaning with a faint “oh” of understanding, Kagome started to swirl her fingertip over her clit in teasing little circles. Waves of pleasure steeped shockingly quick into her core, honing to a fine collective point in that tiny hardened nub, and Kagome gasped, bucking her hips at the raw intensity of sensation.

Her breasts heaved as she began to pant from exertion, the muscles of her thighs and lower abdomen tensing in expectation. This was actually going to happen. She was really going to—

“Stop. Put that finger inside you.”

Dazed, Kagome lifted her head and looked up at him, frowning. “But, I—”

Sesshoumaru cut her off with a chilling glare. “Do it now, miko.”

Grudgingly, Kagome removed her middle finger from her nub, sinking it deeply into the wet hungry heat of her sex. A low groan escaped her at the feeling of penetration—a less acute, but more visceral sensation of pleasure.

“Add another.” He waited for Kagome to slip her first finger inside to join the second, wriggling her hips a little as she adjusted to the extra stretching of her slit. “Hook them both toward your navel as you thrust.”

Dubious, Kagome did as he bid her, slightly curling her fingers toward the anterior wall of her sex as she began to ease them in and out, choking in surprise as they stroked against some mysterious new locus of pleasure. Before, she’d always kept her fingers straight inside her, relying primarily on her clitoris for release. Now, she felt as though she were discovering herself all over again.

“Stroke harder. Faster. Move your hips.”

Taking all his demands to heart, Kagome increased her pace, driving her fingers into her blazing, soaking sheath, feeling her inner muscles spasm periodically as she fought to take in breath amidst the jabbing of her hand and the frantic grinding of her pelvis against it. Her clit was pulsating again, thrumming beneath the occasional, incidental pressure of her wrist.

This was incredible—this was sublime. She felt reckless and unhinged, racing toward the pinnacle of her pleasure across the longer, more difficult path, certain that her attainment of it would be well-worth the struggle. Certain that any minute now, any minute now she would—

“On your knees, miko.” When she hesitated, he added in a low growl, “Now.”

Sighing in frustration, Kagome removed her slippery fingers and sat up on her haunches, glaring. Legs now crossed beneath him, his clawed hands resting on his upper thighs, Sesshoumaru stared coolly back at her, as if he hadn’t just thwarted her release for a second time. Or technically, she supposed, a third.

“I didn’t tell you to close them,” the daiyoukai reproved her haughtily, casting a pointed glance at her locked thighs. “Get up off your ankles and spread your legs before I lose my patience with you.”

Kagome scrambled to obey his orders, though she really had no idea where he was going with this. Rising off her feet, she opened her knees as widely as she thought fit, able now to meet him almost squarely in the eye. Whatever he was about to have her do, she’d have to face him while doing it. The thought filled her with no small amount of apprehension.

“Resume your previous activities,” he instructed as he flicked a stray lock of silver-white hair over his shoulder, sparing her a condescending smirk at her expression of unease. “Brace your free hand against the ground, if you must.”

Still wet with her juices, Kagome’s fingers slid easily back into her sex, but deeper now, due to the change in position. She also found that planting her knees against the earth like this gave her greater leverage to thrust her hips, further deepening her fingers’ penetration. A throaty moan tore from her lips as she sank down on her hand to the absolute limit, her legs opening almost to a full split.

“Add a third finger,” Sesshoumaru intoned, as she drew her knees back in toward a more comfortable, working distance.

Kagome stilled for a moment, unsure. She had never put in three fingers at once. It seemed like too much to her.

And it almost was, at first.

Wincing a little, Kagome slowly eased her ring finger through her slit, rearranging the other two a bit so she could finally pack it in. Now that it was here, she didn’t relish the thought of moving it back out again so soon, but to her surprise, after allowing her slickened opening a few more moments of adjustment, all three fingers were able to slide in and out with relative ease.

Kagome quickened her movements, bracing her free hand against the ground as she rammed her clustered fingers into her steamy sheath. The addition of a third finger made it difficult to curve them properly against her internal pleasure center, but impaling herself on the majority of her hand was deliciously filling, and once she’d gained a little more stability, she was able to return her left hand to her breast. Tweaking her nipple in time with her movements sent little shocks of ecstasy jolting to her core, and the only conundrum she had left to deal with was where to place her eyes.

While one hand had still been rooted to the ground, her gaze had anchored there also, but now that she was once again sitting upright on her knees, it was impossible not to stare at the daiyoukai seated before her. He probably wasn’t looking at her face, but that didn’t mean it was easy for her to look at his. It would be too much like her perverted fantasy, and for some inexplicable reason, she feared it. Feared what it would do to her if he looked back.

So she let her eyes fall to his chest instead. He was leaning forward a little now, causing his loosened haori to hang open fairly wide. The Lord of the Western Lands was well-built, to say the least. The ridge of his left pectoral looked carved from stone. The graven outlines of his lower abs had her slippery channel gripping her invading fingers rather more tightly than before.

“…Like what you see, girl?” his sneering voice inquired.

Kagome’s eyes snapped to his, a fiery blush spreading across her cheeks. Cheeky prick! Eye-candy or not, he was absolutely insufferable.

“Yeah right,” she shot back unconvincingly as she stilled. “Nothing could be further from the truth!”

Sesshoumaru arched a brow at this, his expression wry. “Is that so? Well, if I truly disgust you as much as you say, then I suppose there’s no point to this exercise. Let us return to the others.”

The young miko’s jaw dropped in disbelief. They couldn’t possibly go back now! If she didn’t finish herself off at this point, she was surely going to die.

“Wait!” she said as Sesshoumaru started to rise to his feet. “I don’t…I mean, you don’t, uh, ‘disgust’ me. In fact, I…” Kagome trailed off, trying to think of something to say to him that wouldn’t completely destroy the remaining tatters of her dignity.

“Spare me your flattery, miko,” Sesshoumaru interrupted her with a small wave of his hand. Beneath its shadow, in the spots where his claw tips had been resting throughout the most recent act of Kagome’s self-pleasure, the pearly white silk of his hakama was dotted with tiny specks of red. “Now take out your third finger,” he said, golden eyes flashing as he looked at her in something like mischief, “and insert it into your other opening.”

Other opening? Kagome stared at him blankly at first, uncomprehending—thinking he was referring to her mouth. Then, as though a gigantic egg had been cracked open above her head, realization began to dawn on her in a cold, thick seep. Oh. He meant that other opening…

“Stop complaining, and do as I say,” Sesshoumaru responded stonily, totally unmoved by the young miko’s line of reasoning. “Or we will be leaving at once.”

With a pitiful whimper, Kagome drew the thinnest of her drenched fingers out of her slit, trailing it back the meager distance to that tiny pucker of flesh. She hitched in a breath at the first caress, not expecting to find it so pleasurable. Encouraged by this discovery, she applied a bit of pressure, slowly easing her slippery digit through the tight ring of muscle guarding her back entrance.

“Oh,” Kagome breathed as she buried her finger one knuckle deep, overwhelmed by the strange, yet stimulating new sensation.

Through the dark fringe of her lashes, she glanced up to find Sesshoumaru’s attention riveted on her face—on her lips—his luminescent eyes unreadable in their regard.

“Move,” he commanded her, and she did, rocking her hips against her hand as she pumped her fingers in and out of her two holes, quickly regaining her former momentum.

The added pleasure of her ring finger’s movements in her rear canal spurred her toward climax in a way she’d never dreamed of before. Through the thin boundary separating her two lower channels, she could feel her fingers moving against each other in tandem, her first and second digits now free to curl into her G-spot, whose responsiveness seemed further intensified by her ring finger’s rectal penetration. With the occasional pinch of her nipple, Kagome’s womanhood clenched and shuddered around her hand, drawing her ever nearer to the grand finale of her performance.

As her pleasure mounted, she kept her hooded eyes fixed upon Sesshoumaru’s face. There was no scathing half-smile on his mouth now, no raised brows. His features were flawless and smooth, the vibrant markings that decorated them appearing even more exotic somehow, richer and more alluring to her than ever before.

He was so beautiful now that he wasn’t actively trying to make her miserable.

Heat was building steadily in her core, a fire she kept stoking not only as she continued to move her body against her hand, but as she continued to gaze at the face of the demon lord before her. To watch him as he watched her, through the veil of her deepening lust.

Her muscles were drawn tight like a bowstring fit to snap, each ragged inhalation the merest snatch of air. Her fingers were relentless in their single-minded pursuit, slamming in and out now in a feverish frenzy, or pinching and pulling mercilessly at the highly-sensitized bud of her breast. Her core was a roaring inferno of pure, unadulterated desire, threatening to consume her, to burn everything around her to ash until nothing was left except her want and its fulfillment.

She could barely see him now through the red of it, but she simply could not turn away. She had to keep looking. And when at last he looked back, the sear of his gaze scorched her very soul.

All her fears were realized in that instant, in that single, paralyzing moment when she realized that what she wanted was him.

“Touch me,” she heard herself begging Sesshoumaru as she approached the point of no return. “Please…”

She’d crossed the threshold. She was spiraling out of control. The low keening whine that had been building in her chest finally broke free as he leaned toward her with the most intent expression, his cool breath fanning out across her scalding face.

“No, miko,” he answered her, and as he withdrew, the smirk was back, taunting and smug as ever. He said something else, too, but Kagome didn’t really hear it over the din of her own rage.

“Stop calling me that,” she snapped breathlessly as her movements grew even more jerky and uncontrolled, her fury clashing with the liquid heat simmering in her core, on the very verge of boiling over completely. “My…name…is Kagome,” she panted. “Ka-GO-meee—Ahh! Ahhhhhhhhh! Ohhh Kami…! Oh gods…”

She was lost. She was over. Wave after wave of bliss crashed through her, wracking her with violent shudders as she collapsed backward onto the ground, the walls of her sex undulating spasmodically, milking her swallowed fingers like mad. Spots of color danced before her vision, and it was several minutes before Kagome could do anything more than lie there with her hand still between her legs, dazed, yet sated at last.

When she finally pushed herself up into a sitting position, Sesshoumaru was re-armored and slipping Bakusaiga and Tenseiga back through his yellow obi at the hip. Sensing her sulky stare, the daiyoukai turned and met her gaze.

“You had best get dressed,” he said to her smoothly. “That shouting of yours would wake even the deafest of half-demons, and Inuyasha is only a mile away.” He tilted his head in consideration, his expression turning vaguely sly. “What would he think, I wonder…?”

Kagome didn’t want to find out. Shakily, she climbed to her feet, washing her hands quickly in a small pool of clear water before she looked around for her clothes. She didn’t see them anywhere in the grass, although she did spy her bow, quiver and shoes lying at the edge of the clearing.

As she scanned the area again, she glimpsed a flash of color out of the corner of her eye and saw that her pink tank top was hanging on a tree-branch just behind her shoes, her shorts and underwear also suspended on branches nearby. Funny, Kagome thought as she narrowed her eyes in creeping suspicion, but she didn’t remember flinging her clothes off with that much enthusiasm.

Standing on tip-toe, she was able to bring down each article of clothing and in less than a minute was finally decent again. Oh, what a night…

She was just picking up her weapons when Sesshoumaru approached her from across the clearing, moonlight dappling over his pale statuesque form. He paused next to her a few seconds later, the picture of regal composure.

“Are you ready, Kagome?” he asked, his golden eyes touching briefly to her chest, where her overwrought nipples still pushed visibly outward against the front of her tank. “I can hear my half-blood brother cursing my name as we speak.”

Kagome couldn’t hear it, of course, but she was willing to take his word for it, all the same.

“Yeah, I’m ready,” she said, slinging her quiver over her shoulder. “Let’s—wait a minute,” Kagome broke off with a start, her lips parting as she stared at him in shock. “You…you called me by my name just now, didn’t you?!”

Sesshoumaru regarded her placidly. “Would you prefer I return to calling you ‘miko’? I can if you wish, but after the events which took place tonight, the term seems rather too impersonal, wouldn't you agree?”

She couldn’t stand him. Everything he did was calculated to infuriate her. She’d had high hopes that, one day, at some great opportune moment, he’d refer to her by name—like after they’d defeated Naraku, or after she’d finally managed to get one over on him somehow. Even if he’d said her name earlier tonight, when she was locked in the throes of passion before his very eyes, it would have at least occurred at some instance of note. But this—“Are you ready, Kagome?”—couldn’t have been any more trivial! And he knewit, the jerk.

Setting her jaw, Kagome strode forward into the wilderness, leaving the daiyoukai a few steps behind, still waiting for an answer to his goading question. He caught up with her all-too-soon, though, his golden eyes thoughtful as they slanted toward her.

“So agitated again so soon?” he mused aloud, his deep baritone flowing like honey through her ears. “It would seem my first suspicions about you were correct.”

Kagome opened her mouth to ask him what the heck he was talking about when Inuyasha burst through the trees ahead of them, practically foaming at the mouth.

“Nothing occurred which should concern you, half-breed,” the daiyoukai replied swiftly, glancing at the miko in question. Though he continued to address Inuyasha, Kagome had the distinct impression that he was really talking to her. “The girl, I've learned, has difficulty managing herself on her own,” he explained, dwelling a bit too long on certain parts of that statement, to Kagome’s undying shame. “Should the need arise again, as it did tonight, this Sesshoumaru has no qualms about aiding her”—his amber eyes flicked to her, dark with promise—“personally.”

Kagome choked aloud at his innuendo, her cheeks flushing crimson. Seeing Inuyasha looking at her with a furrowed brow, she quickly tried to cover her embarrassed reaction in a fit of shallow coughs.

“Whatever, asshole,” the hanyou said, dismissing Sesshoumaru with an undignified snort. “I guess I don’t mind you looking out for Kagome, so long as you don’t get any second thoughts about hurting her,” he added threateningly, crossing his arms over his chest. “The wench has a knack for getting herself into sticky situations, I’ll admit it.”

“Yes, little brother,” the daiyoukai replied as Kagome’s ‘coughing fit’ returned with a vengeance. That twist of his lips was downright evil. “On that point, I agree with you completely.”

“…Fine,” she wheezed, wiping at her watery eyes, “I’m fine. Can’t we just go, already? I’d like to get at least a few hours’ sleep before sunrise…”

But that was wishful thinking. Exhausted as she was, Kagome couldn’t stop replaying the events from the clearing inside her head. It had been so humiliating, so wrong.

So mind-blowingly erotic.

In his loaded comments to Inuyasha, she’d assumed that Sesshoumaru had been merely baiting her about a repeat performance, but now, as she rehashed the last words he’d spoken to her prior to her release, Kagome wasn’t so sure. After he’d denied her request to touch her, he’d told her something else, something she hadn’t really picked up on at the time, given the circumstances. But now it haunted her, teased at her as she strained her mind to uncover those lost words.

As her consciousness began at last to fade, the image of his face resurfaced once more, an inch from hers, the corner of his mouth raised in that cocky, furtive half-smile. She gazed back at those lips in hate and hunger as they parted, whispering:

“…Not this time.”

A small, sleepy grin twitched at Kagome’s lips. She turned over onto her side in her sleeping bag, not at all surprised to find the object of her musings contemplating her across the burned-out coals of the fire-pit.

Well, as they say, Kagome thought as she felt herself drifting away to that portentous look of his, the show must go on.